The invention relates to the manufacture of microelectronic circuits and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for transferring wafer cassettes in a microelectronic manufacturing environment.
In the field of microelectronic circuits, manufacturers are increasingly employing very large and heavy wafers, some of which are 300 millimeters in diameter, because they help to lower the cost of production per microelectronic device. Not only are these wafers large and heavy, but they represent relatively expensive material, the more so as a number of time-consuming and complex processing steps are performed upon the wafers.
In the semiconductor manufacturing environment partially processed wafers must frequently be transported among storage areas, processing stations, inspection stations, and other stations.
In contemporary, high production semiconductor manufacturing environments, large-scale wafers are often stored and transported in wafer cassettes, each of which can hold a plurality of wafers, for example up to two dozen wafers. A fully loaded cassette can weigh ten kilograms or more.
Production facilities often have fairly narrow or constricted areas, in which space is at a premium. Thus large, bulky equipment for transporting and storing wafer cassettes is undesirable.
Furthermore, time is also at a premium in such production facilities, so equipment used for storing, transporting, loading, and unloading materials such as semiconductor wafers must be easy to use and require a minimum of operator manipulation.
Furthermore, equipment used in manufacturing environments which are regulated by federal, state, and local laws and regulations must be safe, stable, and ergonomic.
For the reasons stated above, there is a substantial need in the semiconductor manufacturing art for a wafer cassette transport cart and method of use thereof, which are reliable and cost effective, which are safe and easy to use, and which consume a minimum of physical space.
In one embodiment, a cart for transporting wafer cassettes is described. The cart comprises a support structure and an upright member pivotably coupled to the support structure. The upright member comprises a handle pivotably coupled to a cassette support.
In another embodiment, a method of loading a wafer cassette from a transport cart to a load port is described. The cart includes a wheeled support structure and an upright member pivotably coupled to the support structure. The upright member comprises a cassette support pivotably coupled to a handle. The method comprises moving the cart adjacent the load port, and loading the wafer cassette from the cart to the load port by employing movements of the upright member and the handle.